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I would advise all consumers to look at Priceline.com's current legal proceedings info per their 10K, annual report filing with the SEC for fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2009 BEFORE booking with this service. They have approximately 17 pages of legal proceedings, with 2 consumer class action lawsuits in the past (see page 47 for consumer class action lawsuits).
Link:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=72780&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2lyLmludC53ZXN0bGF3YnVzaW5lc3MuY29tL2RvY3VtZW50L3YxLzAwMDExMDQ2NTktMTAtMDA4MDAyL3htbA%3d%3d#Item3_LegalProceedings_123550
Consumer Class Actions: (per Priceline's 10K SEC filing, for fiscal year ended on Dec 31, 2009)
Here is text directly from that Priceline 10K filing:
"Two purported class actions brought by consumers were pending against us":
"Marshall, et al. v. priceline.com, Inc.: On February 17, 2005, a putative class action complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware for New Castle County by Jeanne Marshall and three other individuals on behalf of themselves and a putative class of allegedly similarly situated consumers nationwide against us. The complaint alleged that we violated the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act, Del. Code Ann. Tit. 6, § 2511, et seq., relating to our disclosures and charges to customers to cover taxes under city hotel occupancy tax ordinances nationwide, and service fees. We moved to dismiss the complaint on April 21, 2005. On June 10, 2005, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint that asserts claims under the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act and for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing. On October 31, 2006, the court granted in part and denied in part our motion to dismiss. The court dismissed all claims arising under the Delaware Consumer Fraud Act. The court also dismissed all claims for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing that relate to our charges for service fees. The court denied our motion to dismiss the breach of contract and implied duty of good faith and fair dealing claims as they relate to our charges to consumers to cover taxes under city hotel occupancy tax ordinances. On February 1, 2008, two of the four plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their claims against us. On February 29, 2008, the remaining plaintiffs moved for leave to amend their complaint to assert additional claims for breach of contract and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing alleging that we included a hidden fee within the room rate charge. On August 28, 2008, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend. The plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint on September 12, 2008, and we answered that complaint on September 26, 2008. The parties’ summary judgment motions have been submitted and a hearing was held in January 2009; we are awaiting the court’s ruling."
"Chiste, et al. v. priceline.com Inc., et al.: On December 11, 2008, a putative class action was filed by plaintiff Matthew R. Chiste and two other individuals on behalf of themselves and a putative class of allegedly similarly situated consumers nationwide against us, Lowestfare.com, Inc. and Travelweb, LLC. The complaint alleges the defendants overcharge consumers by collecting Hotel Occupancy and sales taxes over and above that necessary to pay the actual taxes on the hotel room reserved by the customer. The complaint asserts claims for deceptive business practices, declaratory and injunctive relief, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on March 6, 2009. Briefing was completed on July 3, 2009. The parties are awaiting the court’s decision."
Priceline should not only be sued by consumers but by the FTC and all the consumer protection agencies! They will keep your money no mater what! DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICES, THE CHEAP PRICES ARE NOT WORTH THE HEADACHED THEY GIVE NOT TO RETURN YOUR DUE FUNDS TO NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN.
Priceline is a scam, they took almost $700 from me and would not release my wife a rental car. They refused to issue a refund to us because it is against their policy to issue refunds. In the end I spent an additional $700+ to rent another car. We were going on vacation and had already paid for accommodations and didn't want to lose more money. I suggest people avoid Priceline and save themselves the chagrin that acompanies dealing with them. They pretty much ruined my vacation.
What a pawn of Priceline to have this type of a response to a situation of a person who clearly was wronged by Priceline. The name calling, immaturity and all round low level of intelligence it shows to write such a response. Priceline needs to higher more educated people to try and comment about valid reviews on how unprofessional, money grubbing Priceline is. Just research all the lawsuits they have against them and you will realize the company is poorly run, unprofessional and criminal in their business practices. BEWARE consumers - based on their known business practices to harm their members and rip them off. Don't do business with them is my recommendation. RESEARCH and go with a company that will refund your money when you cancel or give you credit towards future use. Priceline just takes your money regardless, even if the reservation was fraudulent to begin with. Bad business. Don't do business with them! Beware!
I would like to file a class action lawsuit against Priceline - I booked a reservation for family members over the phone and very specifically stated that it needed to be refundable - the person told me yes, could be cancelled and refunded by a specific date (which was a month out from the day I called to make reservations). I called again the next day as I never received an email confirmation and the person I spoke to said the reservation could not be cancelled without a penalty. I told them, that is not what was discussed and was told they would listen to the recording of the phone call I had with the person and call me back within 4 days - they never did! I called repeatedly asking the status and was given a runaround each time. 4 days before the out of state travel, I again called Priceline and was told that I could cancel the reservations (it was 3 rooms for family members traveling for a funeral). I wrote down the individual's name, and confirmation number. I immediately made new reservations through another travel sight (online and refundable). They never refunded the 3 rooms so now I have been charged for 3 rooms x 2. I filed a fraudulent charge claim with credit card but Priceline gave them the email that they sent me that the rooms were nonrefundable (which was never the case), and my credit card did not refund the charges. Anyone else have a similar situation with Priceline - would love to file a class action lawsuit for the repeated lying, and charges on my credit card.
check this out, I booked a package deal with priceline for a flight and hotel bundle. My flight could not land there and we had to be redirected to another airport in the middle of the night, priceline would not refund my cost and they said the motel would not either, I had to pay for another hotel at the other destination and I have been trying to get reimbursed or credited for services I paid for and did not receive at no fault of my own. Bad faith on priceline's part and they should be sued and have to pay everyone for their robbery!
I purchased an airline ticket and canceled it the next day .I paid extra for the travel protection but Priceline or the travel protection company (AON) will not issue a refund .Why are companies like Priceline and (AON) able to beat paying customers out of their money and leave them without any recourse for recouping funds paid.
I have a similar, but less expensive complaint. I booked a rental car with them. I am unable to take the trip that involved the rental car, so had to cancel the car. No refund offered. This includes not only the rental charge, but "taxes and fees". There is no explanation of what taxes or fees are being collected. If a private party collects taxes they must be being passed along to an entity such as the Federal Government or a State entity that has the power to collect taxes. Priceline (2 levels of alleged Customer Service) will not explain what those taxes and fees are. They will not escalate the question. I was walked through their website page after page to a vague paragraph that claims they have to pay taxes to a rental car company. Untrue. If I do not use the car, the rental car company does not pay tax on that rental. To those ###s saying, haha, should have checked the fine print, I would challenge anyone to wade through the many pages that are involved with every little transaction that we are involved with. When you buy a bus ticket, do you read 16 pages of legal information regarding your rights? Of course not. I now discover that PriceLine havea legal history of being sued on this very point. I would rather walk than use them ever again.
Those that vilify others and claim others do 'not read the fine print' miss the bigger point. In my case I read the fine print and booked a trip to Chicago to find out later in the day I was unable to make the trip due to having to care for my mother. Priceline's 'contract' and 'policy' is probably illegal and would not survive judicial scrutiny as it is patently unfair on its face.. In order for a contract to be valid and enforceable, both parties must provide 'performance'. I booked this morning, paid $483.00 (my performance) and had to cancel this evening. There has been no performance of any kind on Priceline's part. They provided no service, no product, nothing. The only thing they did was take my money. My actions cost Priceline zero dollars and zero effort. They claim it is 'their policy' to keep my money ($483.75) and it just sucks to be me simply because my mother is not dying, not under doctors care, nor hospitalized. I purchased the insurance policy as well ($22.00). Same story, it is 'their policy' to keep my money for the very same reasons. These are some miserable pukes with no business sense, compassion, or fair business 'policies' or practices. I hope they get byte rot.
So this is a lawsuit from people that did not read the fine print. Who's fault is that? Now they sue because they are "owed" compensation. Makes me sick...too lazy to read the details but can call a lawyer.
Here's an idea...Instead of wasting everyone's time with this crap, go thank a member of our military for protecting your freedom to file a frivolous lawsuit and live in the greatest country in the world. We focus on so much stupid crap because we feel entitled, we forget the important things.
Start taking reponsibility for your own actions and recognize what's important in life.
Thanks for the warning Sedona01!
Lawsuit against Priceline...get real!